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Sevenoaks Area Coeliac Group

TALKABOUT

For all your gluten-free gossip, news and events

October 2015

Edition 37

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Branch Committee

Group Organiser Fiona Turnbull 01474 703869 [email protected] Secretary Daphne Paterson 01322 863171 [email protected] Treasurer Mary Cunnington 01732 862925 [email protected] Newsletter Editor Gill Howe 07971 481150 [email protected] Website Manager Alison Batchelor 01732 360019 [email protected]

Committee Member Sally Spike 01689 828883 [email protected] Refreshments Organiser Joy Oliver 01732 460849 [email protected] Refreshments Organiser Wendy Gibson 01474 853656 [email protected] Junior Committee Member Jessica Howe

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Note from the Editor

Dear Reader Welcome to our Autumn edition of Talkabout. We hope you all enjoyed the summer. It was great to see lots of you at the Summer BBQ this year and for those who didn’t get along there is a short write up in this edition about the day. Fiona and Daphne went along to the Coeliac UK Volunteers Conference and had a great day – I have added some information about what was discussed. We have some tasty recipes for you to try out this month – Low Fat Fish & Chips and Daphne’s tried and tested Oatmeal Cookies. We are looking forward to welcoming you along to the pre-Christmas Meeting on Saturday 7th November where we have a guest speaker who will be talking about cooking nutritious gluten free foods on a budget. You will also have an opportunity to try some homebaked cakes afterwards and enjoy a cup of tea and a chat with fellow coeliacs. Fiona will also be updating us on what was discussed at the Volunteers Conference regarding the ongoing gluten-free prescription issue! Don’t forget to check the Forthcoming Events page and get the AGM in your diary for early next year – we will be holding it at Christ Church Hall in Sevenoaks as the Otford Church is having some building work done over that period. We will be welcoming a guest speaker from Coeliac UK to the AGM to update us on what’s happening on the wider stage. Please do send us your recommendations of places to eat locally as they are always really helpful to other members. I hope you enjoy the Diagnosis Story – this was always a regular feature and I’d like to reinstate it so if you would be happy to write and share your story with follow coeliacs, I’d love to hear from you. Gill – The Editor

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Places to Eat and Useful Information

Have you got a local restaurant that looks after you when you eat there and understands your needs? They don’t need to advertise as gluten-free on the menu but are they prepared to put themselves out a little to look after you? If each and every member contacted us and let us know about their favourite restaurant, then imagine the wonderful selection of restaurants we could all try!

If you have some useful information to share with other members then please get in contact - you’ll find my contact details on the back page of the newsletter. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Ed’s Easy Diner Diners at Bluewater and Thurrock Lakeside This has been recommended and when looking at their website I can’t wait to try it out! www.edseasydiner.com This is what the website states: The gluten-free menu is now available across all of our Diners, offering approximately 85% of the same dishes as on the regular menu. Ed’s will serve the menu from breakfast to dinner, with gluten-free buns for burgers and hot dogs, both served with the option of fries as well as a selection of malt-free milkshakes and three gluten-free desserts.

Ed’s have an official Gluten Free accreditation from Coeliac UK for their new gluten-free menu.

Zizzi’s Italian Restaurants in Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells (and UK-wide) Zizzi’s offers a full gluten-free menu which has pizza, pasta, sides and dessert. Check out the menu online at their website www.zizzi.co.uk.

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My Coeliac Story

By Brian Hill For many years, possibly as many as 20 years, I have been taking medication to control indigestion problems. I was due to have an operation in March 2015 and went for the pre-op check. All seemed fine until I received a phone call telling me that the operation couldn’t go ahead as my blood count was very low and that an appointment had been made for the next day to see my GP. The GP referred me to a consultant who sent me first for an abdominal scan and also an endoscopy and a colonoscopy as they thought I had a bleed. When returning at the end of April for the result I was diagnosed with Coeliac disease. I started a gluten free diet immediately. I was given a course of iron and folic acid and by the middle of August my blood count was back to normal levels. I was also told that my blood platelets were still small which would indicate that I have had Coeliac disease for many years. I was also advised to have a Dexa scan which has shown that I have osteoporosis in the spine. I have been given more medication to help with this. Since eating only gluten free I have put on a stone in weight and I’m just about to start cutting out my indigestion medication. Thanks to Brian for sharing his diagnosis story with us – if you’d like to tell us about your diagnosis, we’d love to hear from you. It was always a popular feature in Talkabout and we’d like to re-establish it if possible.

Gill – The Editor

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Summer BBQ - Saturday 18 July

On Saturday 18 July the Sevenoaks group held their annual barbeque. We would like to say a big thanks to Daphne & Bob Paterson for hosting the BBQ in their lovely garden. Black Farmer once again donated 100 sausages which tasted fantastic and Juvela generously provided gluten free burger buns for the event too and we are very appreciative of their support.

As accompaniments, Committee members provided various salads and we finished off with a range of tasty desserts and puddings.

It was a dry day and we had around 40 guests join us, including a number of young children – everything was gluten free so no-one had to worry about what they could and couldn’t eat and the non-Coeliacs certainly enjoyed the food too!

Here are some of the things our guests had to say about the afternoon:

“Please pass on our thanks to everybody who organised, cooked and cleared up Saturday's BBQ. We thoroughly enjoyed the food, the company and the splendid setting at High Wood.” Ashley and Celia

“The day had such a great feeling of inclusiveness.” Joy

It was a lovely day with no rain this year! A pleasure and privilege to welcome everyone again and share the ‘food fest’. Daphne

“This year's event seemed even more popular than usual, with lots of different groups of people dotted around all over Daphne & Bob's lovely garden, happily tucking into all the gluten free goodies on offer. Either news has spread about the popularity of the Group's summer barbecue, or the newly diagnosed are rising in number perhaps more than the latest statistics indicate. Whatever the reason, the sausages were delicious (Black Farmer again, I think, they have always been generous supporting the Sevenoaks group), the burgers and onions tasty, with a nice array of salads and sauces to choose from too. And you could tell how popular the desserts were from the very long queue!” Elaine

“It was very nice to meet friendly and helpful people who understand about a newly diagnosed ceoliac. Thank you everyone.” Jenny and Brian Hill

“I'm very proud to be involved with such a friendly, helpful support group, thank you for making our annual BBQ a success.” Fiona

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Forthcoming Events

Please come along to one of our events We look forward to seeing you soon.

Coffee Morning - Third Saturday of every month 21st November in Sevenoaks, there will be no December meeting, 16th January in Tunbridge Wells, 20th February in Sevenoaks

If you are newly diagnosed and want to find out more this is a very relaxed way to meet with other coeliacs to share ideas and have a chat. We welcome all members.

We meet between 10.00am - 11.30am. We look forward to seeing you soon - look out for the Crossed Grain magazine on the table. We meet at alternate locations each month. One month at Sainsbury’s Café in Sevenoaks (Otford Road, TN14 5EG) and the next month in Sainsbury’s Café in Tunbridge Wells (on Linden Park Road, TN2 5QL, just off the A26 Eridge Road).

Nutrition Talk and Afternoon Tea & Cakes Saturday 7 November – 2 – 4pm Otford Methodist Church Hall, Otford TN14 5PH We are delighted to invite Keli Herriott-Sadler who is a dietary adviser to come along and talk to us about cooking nutritious gluten free foods on a budget making sure we understand how to get a good mix of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. We’ll also be serving tea and home-made cakes so there’ll be time for a catch up with fellow coeliacs.

AGM and Coeliac UK Guest Speaker – 27 February 2015 Saturday 27 February 2016 – 2 – 4pm Christ Church URC Hall, Littlecourt Road, Sevenoaks TN13 2JG We will be holding our AGM at Christ Church Hall in Sevenoaks as our usual venue in Otford will be undergoing some building work at that time. There is onsite parking at Christ Church and it is only a couple of minutes walk from the station if coming by public transport. We will be updating you on our events over the past year and we are delighted to say that a representative from Coeliac UK will be joining us to talk to us about what is happening across the UK generally. Don’t miss it!

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Volunteers’ Conference

Saturday 19 September saw over 80 delegates, who are involved in a range of different volunteering roles, attend CUK’s Volunteers’ Conference 2015. 30 Local Groups across the UK were represented. As the delegates arrived at the venue in London Paddington, they were greeted with a range of delicious samples and food giveaways from the generous sponsors’ stalls. The Conference was formally opened with a warm welcome by Sarah Sleet, Chief Executive who gave an enthusiastic account of the year to date and the work that Coeliac UK have been doing. She strongly encouraged everybody to get involved in the current campaigns and received a very positive reception from the Volunteers. Leading on from this was sessions by James Garman, Director of Commercial Services and Business Development, about the provision of gluten-free food; Heidi Urwin, Research Manager who presented a very interesting overview of Coeliac UK’s research activities; and Lisa Bainbridge, Head of Campaigns who gave a detailed background and progress of the ‘Is it coeliac disease?’ campaign. After a delicious gluten-free buffet lunch, the volunteers networked with one another, staff and sponsors. It was a great way to hear about what wonderful volunteering work is being done throughout the UK by the different groups. The afternoon part of the conference was opened by Sue Hannaford, Head of Volunteering, celebrating the volunteers’ hard work with photos of our volunteers and quotes from the Local Group Survey. With a considerable number of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across England now restricting gluten-free food prescription services, and one CCG withdrawing its service altogether, CUK took the opportunity to discuss issues around prescribing and why it should continue to be a central pillar of NHS aftercare support. A presentation and open sessions about this was next on the agenda, and the delegates were split into four groups with staff leading the interesting discussions. The volunteers were in agreement that prescribing should continue, and that Coeliac UK should continue to press for prescribing services to be available to all those with a medical diagnosis for coeliac disease, in line with the current national prescribing guidance. It was felt that older people and those with children would be most severely impacted by any changes to the current system, and highlighted the potential wider

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impacts on long term health, health inequalities, social isolation and household finances. The need for further information for GPs was also highlighted in the open forum discussion.

Following this, volunteers went into their chosen breakout sessions; they had the opportunity to attend two of the following workshops: fundraising, campaign organising, reading labels and eating out, and volunteering in research. It was a very interesting afternoon.

Gluten-free prescribing in the media

As many of you may be aware, recent media reports have shone the spotlight on gluten-free prescribing and whether this is a service that the NHS should continue to offer.

Coeliac UK has been out there defending gluten-free prescriptions as an important support for people with coeliac disease. Whilst we know gluten-free food can be bought in the larger supermarkets, there are real issues around accessing gluten-free food in smaller stores, rural localities and for those on low incomes and with mobility issues.

It all started with the front page story of the Daily Mail on 17 August which incorrectly stated that gluten-free food on prescription costs the NHS £116 million per year. Coeliac UK put in a letter of complaint to the editor and the journalist, and insisted on a correction. The cost of gluten-free food to the NHS in 2014 was actually £26.8 million, equating to £180 per diagnosed patient, making gluten-free prescribing one of the cheapest treatments for a long term condition in the NHS.

Following this, CUK’s Chief Executive Sarah Sleet was on BBC Breakfast and strongly highlighted the current need for gluten-free prescribing, correcting some of the misinformation around the issue. Sarah emphasised that national prescribing guidelines recommend that only staple items are prescribed and that people with a lifelong condition should have some NHS support. Lots of people got in touch with CUK to help them make a bigger splash in the media. Many of you also wrote to the Daily Mail and other media to voice your concerns and this has all certainly helped in getting the real story across. If you would like to get involved with protecting prescription services in England go to: https://www.coeliac.org.uk/campaigns-and-research/campaigning-on-health/campaign-to-protect-prescription-services-in-england/

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Gluten Free Oatmeal Lace Cookies

Preparation time: 10 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes Makes: 3 dozen cookies Ingredients

200g GF rolled oats

70g White Mix (or other flour)

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

200g granulated sugar

224g melted hard margarine

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 egg at room temperature

Method

Preheat your oven to 165°F.

In a large bowl, place the oats, flour, xanthan gum, salt and sugar, and whisk to combine well. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, vanilla and egg. Whisk (I use a hand blender) until well mixed.

Dollop evenly between 36 silicon cupcake cases or you can make thinner, crispier cookies by baking them flat, but beware, they spread!

Place in the centre of the preheated oven and bake until the cookies are browned around the edges (about 10 minutes). If you are baking them flat, they may now be done.

Turn oven down to 140°F and bake for a further 10 – 15 minutes.

Turn oven off and leave biscuits in the oven to cool.

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Coeliac UK News and Updates

Gluten-Free Dinner Party Get involved with our Gluten-Free Dinner Party challenge to raise funds and awareness for Coeliac UK. With your help we’re hoping to raise £10,000 to support the vital work of Coeliac UK, including our campaign to improve diagnosis rates across the UK. Our idea is simple, organise a dinner party and invite your family members, friends, neighbours, team mates and colleagues. Ask everyone who attends to bring a donation for Coeliac UK and in return you put on an evening of food, drink and entertainment for them. Make your menu gluten-free to highlight the challenges faced by people with coeliac disease and to get people talking about it. By hosting a dinner party you will not only raise vital funds for our work, but will also be raising awareness of coeliac disease and the importance of medical diagnosis. To find out more get in touch with our Fundraising Team at [email protected] Take on the Treasure Hunt Challenge Our brand new event on Saturday 28 November will see teams exploring London, along Christmas lined streets. Every team will receive a list of clues and a map of central London. Teams can choose how they get from clue to clue - take a tube, a bus, a bike, or get in the miles on foot to reach as many of the destinations as they can before 4pm, before meeting at a secret hideout! Find out more by visiting www.coeliac.org.uk/treasure or by contacting the Fundraising Team on 01494 796724. Sunday Times Article (4 October) You may have seen the article published in the Sunday Times on 4 October 2015 discussing ingredients used in gluten-free products. The article specifically mentions a number of ingredients which can be found in some gluten-free products including: hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, xanthan gum, enzymes and calcium propionate. Food additives are widely used in the food industry to fulfil a range of functions, for example antioxidants to prolong shelf-life and preservatives to stop food going mouldy. Additives cannot be used in food products unless they are safe for consumption. All food additives used in the European Union (EU) must be authorised for use based on a safety assessment, the technological need and checks to ensure that the use of the additive will not mislead consumers.

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The ingredients mentioned in the article are not used only in the gluten-free food industry. They are used widely across a number of food categories, ranging from gluten-containing breads, condiments, cooking sauces, fruit juices and confectionery and are approved for use in food. You will find them in some of the most famous brands. With reference to the use of enzymes the article mentions that traces of ‘potential allergens may remain in the bread’. All gluten-free products must demonstrate that they have less than 20 parts per million of gluten which is a safe level for people with coeliac disease irrespective of the ingredients used. There is no evidence that they pose a health risk to consumers. Diagnosis Campaign Update New activities launched for the next phase of the “Is it coeliac disease?” campaign Our campaign to improve the diagnosis rates continues to build with September seeing the launch of our first ever TV advertising. Our 30 second advert aired over 500 times during September and reached new audiences with our campaign messaging - if you missed it on TV you can still view the advert here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWQu4b5c0K4 The advert is part of our ‘Is it coeliac disease campaign?’ and aims to find the half a million people living with undiagnosed coeliac disease. Highlighting the symptoms of coeliac disease in a new and interesting way will really help to capture people's attention and help those suffering to seek a diagnosis. Our TV spot asked those suffering with the everyday symptoms of coeliac disease to visit our campaign website to find out more. The website has now been visited by almost 90,000 people and nearly 30,000 people have completed our online assessment for coeliac disease. We will be continuing to campaign in the run up to Christmas, as we restart our digital advertising using our poster and video campaign launched during Awareness Week. The next phase of the digital advertising will be utilising smartphone apps and social media platforms, such as Facebook and YouTube.

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Low Fat Fish & Chips Cook time: 50 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients

75g dried breadcrumbs from the Schär Wholesome Seeded Loaf 4 x 150g cod fillets Juice of 1 lemon Salt and ground black pepper 900g Maris Piper or King Edward Potatoes (peeled) 4 x sprays of low calorie cooking spray (Fry Light) 4 tbsp freshly chopped parsley 1 medium egg

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6. Place the cod fillets in a bowl, sprinkle over the lemon juice and season well. Leave to Marinate in the fridge for an hour.

2. Meanwhile, cut the peeled potatoes into thick chips. Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the chips for 5 minutes. Drain and dry on kitchen paper. Transfer to a non-stick baking sheet, spray with low calorie cooking spray and season well.

3. Mix together the breadcrumbs, parsley and seasoning to taste. Lightly beat the egg and place in a bowl. Dip each cod fillet into the egg mixture and then into the breadcrumbs mixture to coat evenly and place on a baking sheet sprayed with low calorie cooking spray.

4. Place the chips in the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Add the fish and cook for a further 15-20 minutes.

5. Garnish with lemon wedge and fresh parsley sprig.

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Talkabout

Sevenoaks Area Coeliac Group

Please send your letters or enquiries to:

Gill Howe at Rochdale, 335 Main Road, Westerham Hill, Kent TN16 2HP

Tel: 07971 481150 Email: [email protected]